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Show LEAVES' from V1 Relation of Forest And Flood It is not to be assumed that t reforest the areas which have pre viously been denuded by the lum berman's axe or by destructive fire! will prevent disastrous floods it years to come; in order to safe guard ourselves from the tremen dous volumes of water which sud den thaws or long-continued raini cast upon the earth, levees, reser voirs, and diversion dams must stil be built. Nevertheless, the soddinj of grazed areas, the reforesting a watersheds, and the intelligent ter racing of cultivated fields will d( much, not only to hold back destruc tive floods but also to prevent th leaching and erosion of farm lands It may appear to the individua farmer that anything he can do, oi his comparatively small stretch o: land, will have no appreciable ef feet on national flood or erosioi losses, and this conclusion has, o: course, a basis in fact. Neverthe less, no one of us lives to himself and every land owner is under I moral responsibility to do what h( can to preserve the forest cover. TERRIFIC FORCE OF EROSION Anyone who has ever watered I lawn or garden has seen in minia ture how water carries away loos top soil. When water is poured upoi a grassed area, each blade of grasi tends, to keep the water from rush ing away, and each clump of grasi roots helps to prevent the tearini loose of the soil; the same strearr of water, let loose upon an area o; bare soil, flows swiftly, gatherini force as it proceeds, picking up sane and gravel on its way to act as I further abrasive. A test made bj the Missouri Agricultural Experi ment station showed that during slj years erosion had removed soil a: the rate of 208 tons per acre frorr bare uncultivated land, as comparec with less than two tons- per acr from similar land covered with blue grass sod: In other words, erosioi from bare lands is 122 times as greai as it is from a sodded area. EXAMPLES OF EROSION In 1913 the brush cover on a smal branch of the Los Angeles river ii the mountains of southern Califor nia, was destroyed by fire. Carefu study of the results, the followinj year, showed that 100,000 cubii yards of soil had been washed fron an area 1.2 square miles in size. Soil washed from a burned hillsid of 200 acres in . San Diego county California, buried a 12-acre alfalfa field so deeply that no signs of cul tivation remained. A flood in a deforested canyon it California carried from 20 to 41 times as much sediment as the cor responding freshet -in an adjoininf forested canyon. EROSION ON FARM LANDS An economic loss of staggering magnitude is going on in many part; of America. In Kentucky, Tennes see, northeastern Kansas, and othei hilly regions, the best soil has al ready been carried away, with cor responding wastage of life-givinj plant foods. The cure of this dan gerous condition is to be found ii terracing, contour plowing, carefu pasturing, the improvement of farrr woodlands, and the planting of steep bare slopes to trees or grass. Som soils should never be cleared at all since they simply "melt" when ex posed to rain and melting snows The slopes of all easily-eroded soil should be kept permanently in pas ture or forest. CO-OPERATION IN REFORESTATION The farms of the Mississippi ba sin, where some of our most de structive floods have had their ori gin, contain a tremendous amoun' of poor, rough, or steep land, as wel as denuded areas which should bi replanted. To assist in this needet project, the Clark-McNary act authorized au-thorized federal co-operation wit! the states in growing and distribut ing planting stock to farmers. Thir ty-two states are co-operating in thi! enterprise and are producing abou' 60,000,000 trees a year, practical half of which are set out on farms It is interesting and encouraging U note, however, that forest areas, un less completely denuded, and burnec out, will improve rapidly withou artificial planting if given a chance For this reason the Clark-McNarj act emphasized fire protection a: the most important means of en couraging forest restoration. In replanting of woodlands, ii proper methods of cultivation, an( in fire protection, every land ownei has a definite obligation. For further information, send five centi to Superintendent of Documents, Washing ton, D. C asking for Circular No. 19 "F orests and Floods." THE STORAGE OF APPLES The same conditions which are re quired for keeping potatoes will an swer for apples, but apples shoule not be stored in the same place witr potatoes or with other root crops Apples have a tendency to absorl unpleasant flavors, from such asso ciation. AN ATTRACTIVE MOUSE The little, white-footed mouse li one of the most charming smal) creatures imaginable. |
